Thursday, 20 September 2012

Lynas: People before corporate greed, who will pay the TOL?

Friends ofthe EarthAustralia

Media Release

Lynas: People before
corporate greed, who will pay the TOL?

Concerned Sydney activists
in support of Malaysians are gathering at Lynas Corporations head office on
Pitt St in Sydney's CBD at 12:30pm today, to express their dissent over the
companies plan to export rare earths to Malaysia for processing.

Lynas Corporation has
recently received a two year temporary operations license (TOL) from the
Malaysian Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB), as of the 5th of
September. This is an issue of
significance to Australians, as the ore to be processed at the plant will come
from Mount Weld rare earths deposit in Western Australia. The Lynas Applied
Materials Plant (LAMP) hasn't even submitted an environmental impact assessment
to begin operations of one of the worlds largest rare earth refineriery located
on the east coast of Malaysia in the Pahang state at Gebeng, Kuantan.

Tully McIntyre from Friends of the Earth stated
"Lynas plans to export 22,000 tonnes of ore annually to Malaysia for
processing, which risks polluting important mangrove coastal ecosystem and
major sources of livelihoods for local people in Malaysia. There are well over
700,000 people living in a 30 km radius of LAMP."

"These people were not
consulted about the refinery, or a proper environmental impact statement
carried out for LAMP."

The Australian High
Commissioner to Malaysia stated last week Lynas had submitted an application to
Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) to import
waste back to Australia, if so Australians are wondering where it would be
stored.

Miss McIntyre went on to say Australian activists are
calling for more stringent research to be carried out in Australia and abroad
before proceeding further, Malaysians do not want LAMP and an Australian
company should not be forcing the project on an unwilling international
community. The campaign against Lynas in Malaysia is the biggest environmental
campaign in Malaysian history. Australian activists will remain to show strong
support with the Malaysians to stop Lynas exporting this toxic legacy.

Greens MP Jamie Parker NSW
will address the concerned activist at the lunch time protest.